Well, there’s also the issue of working in a foreign country legally. I wish it weren’t so much of a hurdle. I’ve worked in three different countries, not much by any measure, but enough to gain some insights:

  1. Your social value goes down the drain. Saying “I have a very popular design blog in Spanish” means nothing to the English speaking market. Saying you studied in a top tier university in Mexico is the same as saying you have a high school diploma.

  2. The relevance of your previous work is undermined. Unless they’re huge international countries, they’ve probably never even heard about them.

  3. It’s difficult to convey quality if most of the pieces in your portfolio are in a different language than that your potential employer. Copy plays a big part in the perception of quality.

Until I moved to Canada I had never even had to look for work. I had some difficulty finding a good match that was willing to try me out. Fortunately I got a small freelance project with a great company and we hit it off from there.

If I had to do it again, I’d start by building something small but useful for the city I’m moving to (say, a webapp to find open beer stores). This helps you generate local value in the language of the ecosystem you are trying get into and connects you with local devs and designers.